“The best thing about it is the simplicity and the sense of absolute freedom, and just boils life down to eating, sleeping and riding – maybe the least stressful thing, mentally, in the world to do – just reach this place of absolute peace that it’s really hard to achieve any other time.”

Cycle touring: everything you need to know

Carrying only the lightest possible sleeping bag, no tent, some tools and a first aid kit, and few clothes other than a second pair of socks and a jacket, Buhring says: “You don’t even need the comfort of even a sleeping mat, you just collapse and you’re gone for two hours, so you do without the comfort. Every five days I would stop in a motel to have a shower and brush my teeth and have three hours of sleep instead of two.”

“I feel the most at touch with myself and the world when I’m on my bike on the road, that sense of adventure, not knowing where I’m going to ride that night, how far I’ll get. That’s the best part for me.”

Out on the road she was never totally alone, though. Having followed her progress via her GPS tracker during the Trans Am, fans would stand at the roadside with signs, waiting for her to pass.

“It’s so weird passing through and there’s these strangers on the roadside shouting for you. You don’t know how much of a boost that is when you’re super tired on your bike and you pass and everyone’s screaming your name like you’re a rock star. I didn’t stop but I was like ‘thank you!’”

“I almost never paid for a meal the entire [Trans Am] race because everybody knew about the race, I don’t know how.”

On those last 800 sleepless kilometres across America one woman, one of many “road angels” along the way, decided, when it became clear Juliana was staying up for a second consecutive night, she would drive three hours to meet her on the road.

“She brought three power shakes. At that point I had this pinched nerve running down the entire leg at the back so I was crying the last 100 miles to the finish line. She brought her girlfriend who’s a masseuse, so her girlfriend’s massaging my ass in the middle of the road! It was another 30km I went without any pain and then it started up again. The only thing that keeps you going at that point is your mind, because your body should have quit a long time ago.”

“The worst part is obviously the absolute exhaustion, you’re putting yourself through extreme duress mentally, physically, you suffer a lot of post-traumatic stress afterwards. You’re putting your body though something you’re not supposed to do, and it takes around four to six months to recover.

“When I finished the Trans Am I was wheeled onto the plane in a wheelchair, I couldn’t walk. I was hobbling around for about a week after because my knees and ankles were so swollen from the bike being broken and riding with the seat all the way down in the mountains for ten days. I was just surviving on taking painkillers to keep the swelling down.”

For a week after the race she was snapping awake every two hours, her body expecting to get back on the bike.